THE    PRINTING    PRESS 

OF   THE 

FRENCH    FLEET 


PROVIDENCE 
PRESTON  &  ROUNDS 


CONTRIBUTIONS 

TO 

RHODE   ISLAND    BIBLIOGRAPHY 

No.  II 


THE  PRINTING  PRESS 

OF  THE 

FRENCH  FLEET 


CALENDRIER 

F.  R  A  N  £  A  I  S , 

Pour  Vs^nnes  Commune  1781. 
CO  N  T  E  N  A  N  T 

Le  Calcul  ordinaire  du  lever  &  du  COM- 
chtr  dit  So  lei  I ,  di  la  Lime  &  leur 
Decimaifon. 

Un  JZtat  des  Officicrs  dc  FEfcadre  ,  6" 
des  principauxdc  VArmeeaux  ordres 
d$  M.  le  Comte  de  RoCHAMBE/fu. 

Lcs  fcpoques  Us  plus  intereffantes  de  la 
Guerre  prifcntc  ,  .avec  les  Routes  du 
Continent. 


)e  rimprinwrie   R»/.,l«  rfe  1'Efcadr*.  ptt»  le  Pare 
dc  la  Marine.. 


Reduced  ;  the  original  type  page  measures  125  x  81  mm. 


CALENDRIER  FRANCAIS 

POUR    U AN NEE  1781 
AND 

THE    PRINTING    PRESS 

OF    THE 

FRENCH     FLEET 

IN    AMERICAN    WATERS    DURING 
THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR 


BY 

HOWARD    MILLAR    CHAPIN 

LIBRARIAN  OF  THE 
RHODE  ISLAND  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


PROVIDENCE 
1914 


Stack 
Annex 


One  hundred  fifty  copies 

reprinted  from 
The  Providence  Magazine 


THE  "CALENDRIER  FRANGAIS." 

The  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  obtained  last  November  a 
small  book  entitled  "Calendrier  Frangais,  Pour  1'Annee  Commune 
1781."  The  "Calendrier  Frangais,"  as  this  book  is  commonly  called, 
is  remarkable  in  several  respects.  It  was  discovered  by  a  bookseller  in 
a  small  .Massachusetts  town  and  was  purchased  by  him  for  a  few  dol- 
lars. As  he  realized  the  value  of  the  book  he  immediately  offered  it 
for  sale  at  auction,  and  after  spirited  bidding  it  was  finally  sold  for 
$525.00. 

This  is  the  only  copy  of  this  book  now  known  to  be  in  existence. 
It  was  printed  after  December  15th,  in  the  winter  of  178O-1  and  was 
soon  forgotten,  but  a  century  later  Edwin  M.  Stone,  in  1884,  in  ."Our 
French  Allies"  (p.  352)  quotes  from  the  Calendrier,  and  states  that 
in  1854  there  were  said  to  be  only  two  copies  in  existence.  Hammett 
copied  Stone,  and  subsequently  bibliographers  have  copied  Hammett. 
The  two  copies  of  the  Calendrier  soon  disappeared,  and  historians 
have  sought  in  vain  to  locate  a  copy  of  the  work. 

This  book  is  particularly  interesting  because  it  is  the  first  almanac 
printed  in  French  in  Rhode  Island,  and  probably  the  first  French 
almanac  printed  within  what  is  now  the  United  States,  having,  as  the 
title  page  states,  been  printed,  "A  Newport,  De  I'lmprimerie  Royale  de 
1'Escadre,  pres  le  Pare  de  la  Marine."  It  will  be  remembered  that  on 
May  2,  178O,  a  French  fleet  under  Admiral  De  Ternay  sailed  from 
Brest,  carrying  over  600O  troops  to  assist  General  Washington,  and  that 
the  fleet  reached  Newport  on  the  evening  of  July  llth.  They  were 
greeted  by  a  general  illumination  of  the  city  and  harbour.  The  custom 
then  instituted,  has  come  down  to  our  own  time,  for  once  every  sum- 
mer Newport  holds  its  "Illumination,"  which  now  takes  place  upon 
the  arrival  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club  on  its  annual  cruise.  The 
French  fleet  remained  at  Newport  until  (March,  1781,  and  during  the 
winter  of  178O-81  many  of  its  officers  took  up  their  abode  on  shore. 
On  board  the  fleet  was  a  printing  press  used  for  the  printing  of  no- 
tices and  orders,  and  this  press,  according  to  a  contemporary  account, 
was  set  up  on  shore  at  No.  641  Water  street,  and  as  the  title  page  of 
the  Cakndrier  states,  "pres  le  Pare  de  la  Marine,"  which  was  located 
at  611  Water  street. 

Another  reason  that  makes  the  "Calendrier"  interesting  is  that  it 
is  the  first  Roman  Catholic  almanac  printed  in  Rhode  Island,  or  in  fact 
in  the  United  States.  At  this  time  there  were  no  Catholics  in  Rhode 
Island,  but  the  majority  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  among  our  French 
allies  were  of  that  faith. 

The  title  page,  giving  the  contents  of  the  "Calendrier,"  reads  as 
follows : 


"Contenant 

Le   Calcul  ordinaire  du  lever  &  du  coucher  du   Soleil,   de  la 

Lime  &  leur  Declinaison. 
Un    Etat    des    Officiers    de    1'Escadre    &    des    principaux    de 

1'Armee  aux  orders  de  M.  le  Comte  de  Rochambeau. 
Les    Epoques    les    plus    interessantes    de    la    Guerre    presente, 

avec  les  Routes  du  Continent." 

The  first  part,  the  astronomical  calculation,  occupies  pages  1  to 
25,  the  second  part,  the  list  of  officers,  occupies  pages  26  to  32,  and 
the  third  part  doubtless  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  war  was  never 
printed. 

The  "Avertissement,"  printed  on  the  back  of  the  title  page  and 
so  facing  page  one,  reads  as  follows:  "La  precipitation  avec  laquelle 
on  a  ete  oblige  de  calculer  la  partie  astronomique  de  cet  Almanach, 
n'a  pas  permis  d'y  apporter  toute  la  precision  que  Ton  cut  desire;  on 
a  ete  oblige  de  se  servir  de  methodes  promptes,  aim  qu'il  put  etre 
imprime  le  plutot  possible :  on  ne  sera  done  point  surpris  d'y  trouver 
des  erreurs  de  deux  ou  trois  minutes  a  1'instant  du  lever  ou  du 
coucher  du  Soleil,  &  d'autres  plus  considerables  encore,  sur  le  lever  & 
le  coucher  de  la  Lune." 

Page  one  is  entitled  "Articles  Principaux  du  'Calendrier  Pour 
1'Annee  Commune  1781,"  and  contains  the  number  of  the  year  accord- 
ing to  the  various  calculations,  the  chronological  tables,  which  our 
colonial  almanac-makers  called  "Vulgar  Notes,"  an  account  of  the 
eclipses  for  the  year,  "Festes  Mobiles"  (Movable  feasts)  and 
"Quatre-Temps"  or  Ember  Days,  which  latter  do  not  appear  in  New 
England  almanacs  of  the  period. 

The  calendar  proper  begins  on  page  2  and  gives  two  pages  to 
each  month.  Unlike  its  American  contemporaries,  it  gives  the  name 
of  the  days  of  the  week  instead  of  their  number.  It  also  gives  the 
name  of  the  saint  for  each  day  in  the  year,  an  item  never  included  in 
American  colonial  almanacs. 

Besides  giving  the  day  of  the  month,  the  day  of  the  week,  and 
the  saint's  day,  the  calendar  for  each  month  gives  the  time  of  sunrise 
and  sunset,  the  longitude  and  declination  of  the  sun,  the  days  of  the 
moon  and  the  rising,  southing  and  setting  of  the  moon.  At  the  bot- 
tom of  each  left-hand  page  is  given  the  increase  or  decrease  in  the 
length  of  day,  and  at  the  bottom  of  each  right-hand  page  is  given 
the  date  and  time  of  the  moon's  phases.  The  time,  in  all  cases,  is 
given  in  hours  and  minutes,  with  the  seconds  omitted. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  astronomical  calculations  of  the 
Calendrier  Frangais'  with  those  of  its  contemporary  Rhode  Island 
almanacs.  Benjamin  West,  the  noted  astronomer,  calculated  for 
three  Rhode  Island  almanacs  for  1781,  and  we  may  presume  that 


his  calculations  were  very  nearly  accurate.  They  differ  from  those 
of  the  'Calendrier  some  two  or  three  minutes  with  regard  to  sun- 
rise. Taking  West  for  the  standard,  we  find  that  on  January  2  the 
Calendrier  is  one  minute  fast,  on  January  31  it  has  become  two  min- 
utes fast,  and  on  February  28,  three  minutes  fast.  It  is  identical  with 
West  for  March  1,  but  has  become  two  minutes  slow  by  .March  31. 
Thus  it  varies  slightly  from  time  to  time,  ending  on  December 
31  with  calculations  identical  with  those  of  West  of  that  day.  As  the 
"avertissement"  states  that  the  calculations  for  the  moon  are  less  ac- 
curate than  those  for  the  sun,  and  we  sometimes  find  a  discrepancy 
of  over  an  hour  between  the  two  almanacs  in  the  time  given  for  the 
setting  of  the  moon.  The  phases  of  the  moon,  as  given  in  the  Calen- 
drier and  in  the  West  almanacs  are  sometimes  identical  to  the  min- 
ute, as  on  November  30,  and  sometimes  there  is  a  difference  of  a  day, 
as  on  the  15th  and  16th  of  January. 

The  second  part  of  the  Calendrier  is  of  far  more  historical  value 
and  particularly  so  in  this  copy  on  account  of  the  manuscript  anno- 
tations, evidently  made  by  some  officer  of  the  fleet. 

Page  26  is  entitled  "Escadre"  and  under  the  sub-title  "Etat- 
Major"  some  one  has  written  in  ink  "Monsieur  de  Barres." 
This  refers  to  Louis,  Count  de  Barras  Saint  Laurent,  who  took 
command  of  the  fleet  after  the  death  of  Admiral  De  Ternay.  As 
neither  the  name  of  De  Ternay  nor  that  of  de  Barras  appears  in  the 
printed  list,  it  is  evident  that  the  "Calendrier"  was  printed  after  De 
Ternay's  death,  which  occurred  on  December  15,  and  before  the  news 
reached  Newport  that  de  Barras  had  been  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
A  list  of  the  officers  of  the  squadron  follows,  and  the  manuscript 
annotations  are  of  considerable  interest. 

After  the  name  of  M.  De  Cheffontaine  Capitaine  en  second  of  "Le 
Conquerant"  is  written  "tue."  The  same  is  also  written  after  the 
names  of  MM.  De  Kergus  and  De  Macarty,  both  Enseignes  de  vais- 
seau,  while  "hie  a  Chesapeake"  appears  after  the  name  of  M.  De  la 
Jonquiere,  Enseign.  These  officers  were  all  of  "Le  Conquerant." 

"Mort"  is  added  after  the  name  of  M.  De  Marsilly,  Lieutenant  on 
board  "L'Eveille." 

"Blesse  au  jambe"  is  placed  after  the  name  of  M.  Lamoisse,  Offi- 
cier  auxiliaire  on  "L'Ardent." 

"Tue"  is  found  after  the  names  of  M.  Misnessi  de  Quier,  En- 
seign de  Vaisseau  and  MlM.  Bonniec  and  Tranchant,  both  Officiers 
auxiliare  on  "La  Surveillante."  M.  Scot,  Garde  de  la  Marine  of  "La 
Surveillante,"  was  evidently  transferred  to  "Le  Due  de  Bourgoyne," 
for  after  his  name  is  written  "d'abord  Le  Due  de  Bourgoyne."  At  the 
bottom  of  page  30  a  manuscript  note  reads :  "Ces  officiers  de  la  Sur- 
veillante furejit  tue  dans  une  combat  navale  avec  un  Vaisseau  de  50 
Canons  pour  1'espace  de  3  heures." 


Pages  31  and  32  contain  a  list  of  the  chief  officers  of  the  "Armee 
aux  Orders  de  M.  le  Comte  de  Rochambeau." 

The  historical  importance  of  the  Calendrier  is  brought  out  by 
the  fact  that  "La  Surveillante''  and  four  other  warships  mentioned 
therein  are  not  mentioned  in  "Les  'Combattants  Francois  de  la  Guerre 
Americaine,"  published  in  1903  by  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of 
France,  and  that  several  of  the  manuscript  annotations  record  facts 
which  seem  to  have  been  unknown  to  the  compilers  of  that  extensive 
and  valuable  work. 

Besides  the  Calendrier  Franc,ais  which  we  have  described,  we 
know  of  five  other  works  issued  by  'TImprimerie  Royale  de 
1'Escadre"  while  the  vessels  were  in  North  American  waters. 

The  earliest  is  entitled  "Declaration  adresses,  au  nom  de  Roi  de 
France,  a  tons  les  Americaines  Francois  de  1'Amerique  Septentrion- 
ale."  It  was  dated  "dans  le  port  du  Boston,  le  28  d'Octobre  1778," 
and  states  that  it  was  "Imprime  a  bord  du  Languedoc  par  F.  P. 
Demange,  Imprimeur  du  Roi  &  de  1'Escadre."  No  copy  of  this  decla- 
ration has  been  located. 

The  largest  work  from  the  "Imprimerie"  was  printed  at  New- 
port and  is  the  first  edition  of  iM.  de  'Chastellux'  "Voyage  de  New- 
port a  Philadelphie."  This  is  a  book  of  187  pages  and  has  been  often 
reprinted.  There  are  but  four  copies  of  the  "Escadre"  edition  now 
known  to  exist,  and  these  are  preserved  at  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  the  Harvard  College  Library,  and  in  the  private  libraries  of 
Mr.  Huntington  and  Mr.  Halsey. 

Another  important  work  from  this  press,  the  one  which  perhaps 
is  of  the  greatest  historical  value,  is  a  seven-page  pamphlet  entitled 
"Articles  de  la  Capitulation."  This  is  the  first  draft  of  the  articles  of 
Cornwallis'  surrender,  together  with  Washington's  comments  thereon, 
printed  in  French.  This  document  was  "Fait  a  York  en  Virginie,  le 
19  Octobre  1781."  The  only  recorded  copy  is  at  the  John  Carter 
Brown  Library  in  Providence. 

From  advertisements  in  "The  Providence  Gazette"  for  27  Dec., 
1780,  and  "The  American  Journal"  of  Providence  for  23  Dec.,  1780, 
we  learn  that  a  newspaper,  "La  Gazette  Frangais  de  Newport,"  was 
published  by  the  "Imprimerie  de  1'Escadre,"  which  at  this  time  was 
set  up  on  shore  at  Newport.  No  copy  of  this  paper  has  yet  been 
located.  As  the  Providence  printers  at  this  time  had  no  French  type, 
it  is  clear  that  these  advertisements  must  have  been  set  up  at  the 
"Imprimerie"  and  shipped  from  Newport  to  Providence  for  printing. 
The  advertisements  read  as  follows:  "Nous  prennons  ici  les  Sou- 
scriptions  par  la  Gazette  Fran^aise  de  Newport,  a  un  demi  Gourde  par 
mois." 

Another  work  from  this  press  is  entitled  "L'Amour  paternel  qui 
a  toujour  anime  le  coeur  du  Roy  pour  les  habitans  du  Canada."  This 


is  a  folio  broadside  and  is  signed  by  La  Fayette.     The  only  copy  of 
this  proclamation  is  at  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 

The  works  from  this  press  it  will  be  seen  are  quite  rare,  num- 
bering at  present  only  seven  recorded  copies.  This  is  doubtless  due  to 
the  fact  that  only  a  few  copies  of  each  were  printed,  the  aim  of  the 
printer  being  simply  to  supply  the  few  officers  who  would  be  inter- 
ested. 


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